Avid adventurer Iris settled in Darwin and is now a centenarian

Iris Palmer’s love of adventure has taken her on a whirlwind of a life journey. 

Born in Bristol in December 1921, Iris was the only child of parents who were much older than usual for the time. 

She was home schooled, then worked as a Dental Receptionist, taking on a vital volunteer role as a fire watcher during World War II. 

Then Iris set off on her search for new adventures, travelling overland to India and later in life to the Caribbean. 

When she settled in Australia she lived in Townsville, before arriving finally in Darwin and eventually moving into Pearl Supported Care. 

Iris has never owned a house, often renting from friends, and she was house sitting when Cyclone Tracey hit Darwin in 1974. 

She set up her own domestic cleaning business and her servicers were in high demand, while her other work over the years included a sales role at the local newspaper and posing as an artist’s model. 

Iris made all her own clothes by hand and has had a wide range of other hobbies and interests - from genealogy to jewellery making.

 Fiercely independent, Iris was still driving in her late nineties and was proud to receive her message from Queen Elizabeth II when she turned 100 (now three years ago!). 

To read about more of the celebrated centenarians in the Southern Cross Care Community, click here.